Codemasters Announces Grid 2, saying a sequel to Race Driver: GRID is in development at Codemasters Racing Studios for release next year for Windows, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. Here is the announcement trailer, here are some screenshots, and here's word:

Codemasters® today announced that GRID® 2™, the long-awaited sequel to the BAFTA-award winning, critically acclaimed Race Driver: GRID™, is in production at Codemasters Racing Studios and set for a 2013 launch for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and PC.

Revealing the first of the game’s new locations, including Chicago and Paris, the debut GRID 2 trailer video is now showing at www.gridgame.com and captures a snapshot of the relentless, high-impact aggressive thrills that lie at the core of GRID 2’s cinematic race experience.

GRID 2 will challenge players to be fast, be first and be famous as they enter a stunning new world of competitive motorsport. In pre-production for two years, GRID 2 is now in full development on the latest evolution of the award-winning EGO Game Technology Platform. Following the success of GRID, which set new standards for damage, AI, visuals and introduced the Flashback time rewind feature - now adopted by many racing games – GRID 2 will again raise the gameplay and technological bar for motorsport gaming and remain true to the series’ core value – it’s all about the race.

“GRID’s back and we’re going to make street, track and road racing exciting again,” said Clive Moody, Executive Producer. “The core design philosophy for GRID 2 is that we treat the race as a character, not a consequence of simply putting cars on tracks. Everything that goes into the game impacts on that second-to-second, in the moment, blockbuster drama – the feel and personality of the race.”

“We’re pushing boundaries once again with what can be accomplished in the genre via new tools, technology and innovations. In single-player, split-screen and online, the next-generation of the EGO Game Technology Platform will power graphics, AI, handling and damage advancements that will immerse players in the racing experience like never before. Like its predecessor, GRID 2 will put the sheer thrill and adrenaline rush of the race at the heart of the experience. It’s what we call Total Race Day Immersion.”

In an expansive career mode, players will experience aggressive wheel-to-wheel racing against advanced AI where each spectacular race unfolds with cinematic immersion. Building on the handling model from GRID, the new TrueFeel Handling System will use real physics to hit a sweetspot between accessibility and simulation and deliver handling that is approachable yet challenging to master.

Going behind the wheel of a handpicked selection of automotive icons spanning four decades and three continents – USA, Europe and Asia – players will race their way to the top of a new, evolving world of motorsport. From Paris to Abu Dhabi, Miami to the sun-kissed California coast and beyond, beautifully created city streets, licensed circuits and edge-of-control mountain roads will become home to the most visceral and exhilarating races in games.

GRID 2 will also set new standards for a racing multiplayer experience with an entirely distinct and extensive gameplay component and unique progression system. Deep customisation options and integration with RaceNet* – the online community portal for Codemasters Racing games which tracks player’s races, rewards and rivals – will offer further immersion and connectivity in GRID 2’s new world of motorsport.

So...drift? Loved the drift mode in the original GRID, probably the best representation of that game style on PC since NFS Underground. It really forced you to have good car control and time exactly how you swooped from turn to turn, and I managed to keep a drift chain for an entire lap on more than one course. I also wouldn't mind going back to replays in all race types, I'd rather have higher difficulty overall without punishing small mistakes too much, rather than ramp it down and find most races too easy.

jdreyer wrote on Aug 9, 2012, 06:23:And in other news, Dice has determined that in their game BF3, the scope is only used 5% of the time, so BF4 won't include a scope view. Said lead designer David Goldfarb, "We will use the resources that would have otherwise gone into developing a scope view for making new features that players really want to see, like ice climbing quicktime events and snowmobile racing minigames. In addition, lack of a scope view will allow our weapons to have 40% more polygons on them while maintaining the same frame rate."

Oh, wait, nevermind. I forgot that David quit Dice, probably over this very issue.

I didn't realize so many people playing arcade racing games in cockpit view. Not sure why is it such a huge deal if they take away something that hardly anyone uses in the game to make room for something else.If you don't like their decision of removing the cockpit view then don't buy the game, there are plenty of other racing games that has cockpit view. If I remember correctly one of the Need For Speed games did the cockpit view pretty good, way better then any of the other Codemasters racing games.

Then again this is an arcade racer not a sim. I personally really don't think cockpit view was that important. Now if they took cockpit view away from a game like F1 I'd be pissed.

And in other news, Dice has determined that in their game BF3, the scope is only used 5% of the time, so BF4 won't include a scope view. Said lead designer David Goldfarb, "We will use the resources that would have otherwise gone into developing a scope view for making new features that players really want to see, like ice climbing quicktime events and snowmobile racing minigames. In addition, lack of a scope view will allow our weapons to have 40% more polygons on them while maintaining the same frame rate."

Oh, wait, nevermind. I forgot that David quit Dice, probably over this very issue.

"The worst of it all is i used to ENJOY getting excited for big titles like this, but these publishers just keep ruining my love for this wonderful hobby with their endless fuckery." - Sempai

xornand wrote on Aug 8, 2012, 20:10:This game will be glitchy arcadey dogshit for 8 year olds. Be prepared for "EXTREME!" themes, shitty emo music, and turd physics. I hope CodeMasters dies in an AIDS virus hurricane earthquake mass shooting.

There's a silly trademarked name for what car handling designer Tim Dearing is doing: TrueFeel. Really, though, it's just a process of hard work and good judgement that starts with raw simulation data for each car, processed by a new physics engine that runs at 1000 Hz. The designers then carefully prune back the cars' more demanding behaviours and ladle in some progressive, controllable drifting "because people find it fun", while attempting to preserve the feel and basic handling characteristics of a particular car. The end result, Dearing says, should be easy for most players to master within a couple of laps, but offer plenty of depth beyond that.

Long-term challenge will mostly come from ascending through Grid 2's four tiers of cars. Although missing the most expensive licences - Porsche, Lamborghini and Ferrari - it looks like a well-curated selection of muscular exotics. You'll start in classics like the 1970s Mach 1 Mustang and BMW E30 M3, then progress through Skylines and modern muscle cars to supercars like the McLaren MP4-12C, track day specials like the wild BAC Mono, and finally outré hypercars like the Pagani Huayra and Koenigsegg Agrea R.

While there's a somewhat 'British' response to the 'no cockpit' view 'controversy' here...

=-Rigs-=

This comment was edited on Aug 8, 2012, 18:31.

'Who am I?...I am the right hand of vengeance and the boot that is going to kick your sorry ass all the way back to Earth, sweetheart! I am death incarnate, and the last living thing that you are EVER going to see. GOD sent me.'

I guess I can appreciate the articulated response that outlines their reasoning, but being told that memory and processing limitations on consoles is the main reason for that decision only serves to annoy me further... They'd better not charge $60 for the PC version if they're not going to put extra work into it that takes advantage of the horsepower that is now several orders of magnitude greater than those 8-year-old crates.

FINALLY.Loved the first game, ranks up there with Project Gotham 2 in terms of just nailing the arcade/sim "feel". Loved the way sponsors worked, and actually having to save up for a supercar instead of the game dropping it in your lap.

Just expect it to use GFWL, as all of the Dirt games have. Hope it doesn't cause the ridiculous loss of fps in multi like dirt3. Didn't get Showdown so I don't know if that one does it too.

With this and the new NFS that looks like Burnout Paradise with licensed cars, I may actually have new racing games worth a damn to play.

Also, while Codemasters swears Dirt3 is a jump ahead of 2, I agree with Porn-o-matic. Only on rare occasions did D3 look equal to d2, and at NO point surpassed it. I blame it on including split-screen, which generally requires either 2 versions of the tracks (a lower detail one for multi), or if there isn't enough space...just the lower detail one for both modes.

This is good news! Dirt 1 sucked ass (no physics), but Dirt 2 is awesome and is one of my all-time favorite arcade/sim games. Dirt 3 was very good but maybe not quite as good as Dirt 2 (downgraded visuals from Dirt 2, IMO). GRID is a great game too and I'm looking forward to GRID 2!